WhatsApp Followers From Around the World Discuss ‘Firestone and the Warlord’

We’re using the chat platform WhatsApp to give readers a direct line to the reporter behind “Firestone and the Warlord.” Here’s what they are saying.

When ProPublica and Frontline launched " Firestone and the Warlord," a sweeping investigation into the relationship between Liberian warlord Charles Taylor and the iconic American company Firestone, we asked ourselves how we might engage a Liberian audience around the story.

WhatsApp is a mobile chat app used by a reported 600 million people worldwide. A number of these users are from Africa. We thought this app might help us connect with the Liberian community in the U.S. and abroad. The response, so far, has been promising. Nearly 100 people are now following T. Christian Miller's updates about the investigation on their phones, including people from Brazil to Canada, from Hong Kong to Spain, and, most importantly, dozens from Liberia and Africa.

Our experiment will continue through the next several weeks, with Miller sharing updates and insights for all seven chapters of the story with our WhatsApp subscribers. International readers are also texting us questions and comments about the story and their own experiences. We'll share some of the best responses here each week.

Oliver Langama, Liberia, says: "Yes, firestone had what it takes to protect her over 80,000 employees. Firestone just did what she usually did from the time it went to Liberia and leaving their employees during the time of war was no surprised. Firestone has never been in the of her employees lest to talk of Liberia who the company felt was a place that was bought by cote on cote their fellow compatriots, and so they were so concerned of profiteering than bettering the lives of their employees (Liberian), indicative of not a single tire company that Liberia can boasts of as one of the world's biggest rubber producers."

Margaret Howard, Liberia, says: "I think Firestone would have done a better job had it not drawn a line between it and the local staff. Like they provided honest information to the Expats, they should have done the same with locals so they could make personal decisions ahead of time."

Why should we care about this story today, 25 years after the events within it happened?

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